Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union today said they will keep talking for another weekto reach a pay and working conditions deal that would avoid strike action in the run-up to
Christmas.The two parties originally wanted to reach an agreement by tomorrow (November 13) aftermaking progress on a wide range of issues in talks since late October. The CWU cancelled an all-outone-day strike scheduled for November 4 to enable the talks to continue and the validity of thestrike ballot was extended to November 20.
In a joint statement today, Royal Mail and the CWU said they had made “significant progressin current talks on legal protections, industrial stability and pay” and had agreed to a furtherextension of the legal validity of the current industrial action ballot until 27 November 2013 “toallow the time to conclude the discussions”.
CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward added: “At this stage it has not been possible tofinalise an agreement on all the issues involved in the dispute. After appraising the postalexecutive of the progress made it has been agreed that negotiations should continue with a view toresolving all outstanding issues. The union has accepted an offer from the company to grant a finalseven-day extension to the industrial action ballot which means that the ballot will remain legallyvalid until 27 November 2013.”
But he underlined: “Members should rest assured that we are committed to reaching anagreement in the next week and that consideration will be given to serving notice for industrialaction should this not happen.”
The agreement is expected to cover a wide range of issues, including an improve pay andrewards offer, a separate pensions agreement and legal job protections beyond the currentthree-year offer. In addition, the two sides want to agree “an agenda for growth”, an overview ofthe future parcels and letters strategy, and a joint charter on the “values and principles” of theRoyal Mail Group.
The CWU had rejected the company’s original offer of an 8.6 per cent phased pay rise overthree years and various job protection commitments. A clear majority of the union’s members atRoyal Mail voted in favour of industrial action to secure a better deal.
